How Public Health Nursing works with the home educated

Earlier this year we welcomed the new role of Public Health Inclusion Nurse to help meet service needs with the home educated community.

In March, we launched a pilot project in partnership with Broadleaf Family Hub in the New Forest. It was important that this project was developed in partnership with the children, young people and parents at Broadleaf to ensure that the offer met their specific needs, with collaboration at the heart of it.  

The children and parents were consulted with to introduce the idea of a Public Health Service, and to find out what support they would like. The Public Health Inclusion Nurse spent time with parents gaining their views. A creative workshop was held with young people attending the Hub to understand the health information they wanted and needed, ensuring the sessions were shaped by their priorities.     

After gathering these insights, it was agreed to have a fortnightly health drop-in service that would be open to both parents and children to attend. These sessions will run until the summer holidays.  

The project has included delivering key public health messages to young people through presentations, and in collaboration with the School-Age Immunisation Service to deliver an immunisation session for the community. 

Our future plans include replicating engagement with the home educated community across more places in Hampshire. 

Find out more about Broadleaf Family Hub.